'When will Bashir be tried?" Darfurian refugees on the Chad border asked me time and again last summer. "We are here because of Bashir," they said.
Last July, I went to Chad to look into how the International Criminal Court, which has a field office in Abeche and works with refugees in the camps, is performing on the ground. As part of my assessment, I interviewed dozens of refugees.
Considering the hardships the refugees faced daily, I was not sure how they would feel talking about a topic as abstract as accountability in an international forum.
Thus I was surprised when their reactions to my questions were positive, with even a hint of impatience because the ICC prosecutor had not yet gone after the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir. A Sudanese official and a rebel leader had been indicted by The Hague-based court but, to the refugees, that didn't go far enough. The chain of command was clear.
On Monday, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC chief prosecutor, sought a warrant from the court for the arrest of Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It may take months for the court to rule, but Moreno-Ocampo's actions will, no doubt, be greeted with joy in the camps.
Yet some commentators outside Darfur have argued that this "moment of jubilation" can only be a symbolic victory for the long-suffering people of that region. They contend that should the prosecution of top officials -- however terrible their crimes -- go forward, it will interfere with prospects for peace and security.
Sudan's history makes a strong case for the opposite conclusion: The persistent lack of accountability has instead undermined the prospects for peace and stability. There has been little peace to keep.
Since taking power in a military coup in 1989, the leadership of the ruling party in Sudan has conducted brutal campaigns to combat rebel groups in several regions, forcibly displacing millions of Sudanese and killing up to 2 million people in southern Sudan alone, all with impunity.
The strategy of burning and looting villages and arming tribal militias to kill and steal from ethnic groups deemed supportive of rebels was initiated in the south, and for years, much of the international community stood by silently. Not one U.N. Security Council resolution condemned the attacks throughout the 1990s.
